A Touch of Darkness is an intriguing story that crosses several literary sub-genres. I would say that first and foremost it is a tale of supernatural mystery and suspense as Abbey, the heroine, uses her paranormal talents to try to find and stop a serial killer of children with otherworldly abilities of his own. I thought that Abbey's jaded cynical attitude gave the book a touch of tart noir as well. A decent romantic element develops when Abbey meets her hunky new neighbor, just enough so that I would also be comfortable classifying the story as romantic suspense. But no matter which category the reader prefers, I found it to be an enjoyable read overall.

Abbey is the first-person narrator of the story who frequently engages in snarky asides. She is a former cop who now works as a police consultant using her gift as a tactile clairvoyant (meaning every time she touches a person or object, she gets visions of other people's lives) to help them solve crimes. Abbey has had her gift since childhood, but didn't come into her full powers until a traumatic event in her life a few years before. At that point, the department sent her on a “vacation” to an institute in Mexico which specializes in helping psychic individuals deal with their gifts. Around that same time, she also lost her unborn baby and her marriage crumbled, two events that have had a profound impact on her life. Unable to bear touching or being touched by anyone, Abbey essentially lives the life of a hermit. When she's not working, she spends all her free time engaged in geeky pastimes, like gaming, surfing the web, watching movies, and consuming copious amounts of junk food.

Abbey's abilities are very interesting. She and the other gifted people she mentions or runs into have X-Men type qualities such as telekinesis, pyrokinesis, empaths, etc. For some reason, stories like this which explore the possibilities of the psychic realm have always fascinated me. In many ways, Abbey views her gift as more of a curse, because of how painful it is to touch another human being and the convolutions she has to go through to avoid that discomfort. Every time she leaves her house, she must wear multiple layers of clothing and gloves even in the summer, and her housekeeper must clean to a specific set of instructions that make Abbey seem OCD. Every time she helps the police on a case, it is traumatic for her, not only because touching dead bodies and objects at a crime scene can really throw her for an emotional loop, but also because she can't ever get though it without tossing her cookies too. It did make me wonder why she would keep torturing herself like that, but nothing ever came to light except a desire to catch the bad guys. That's certainly a valid reason, but I guess I was hoping for some deeper motivation, perhaps something in her past that drives her to get criminals off the streets.

Abbey's neighbor and love interest, Nikolas, is absolutely scrumptious. He has hot, dark good looks, can cook up a storm, and even owns his own restaurant. He also really knows how to treat a lady with gentleness and respect, all qualities which make him a keeper in my book. I love the way he pursues Abbey both in the beginning and later, when Abbey is trying to avoid him. I don't think any woman could resist the kind of overtures he was making. Nik is almost perfect in every way, which is why I was kind of disappointed in Abbey for thinking the worst of him when she discovers the secret he's harboring. How she could even imagine a sweet, wonderful guy like him capable of something so heinous I'm not sure. When he realizes what she's thinking, Nik is understandably hurt. I'm not certain I could have forgiven her quite so easily. Their reconciliation is very brief as well, so not entirely satisfying from a romantic angle. I'm hoping there will be more development to their relationship in the next book of the series.

A Touch of Darkness was a fast-paced story that held my interest quite well. While the storytelling was good, I thought that the technical aspects of the writing could have been a bit more polished. There are numerous typos and incorrect word choices, as well as some repetition that could have been pared down with better editing. Overall though, it was a good book that I could easily recommend to any reader who is interested in paranormal mystery/suspense or romantic suspense, and it has left me open to trying the next book in the Abigail St. Michael Mysteries series, A Touch of Madness.

Note: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. ( )

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Book description

Abigail St. Michael, a former cop, has joined the recently growing ranks of metaphysicals, individuals with abilities outside that of normal human nature. When a murderer stalks her town killing children, Abbey uses her ability of touch clairvoyance to hunt him down. Her only roadblock is that her murderer seems to have his own unique talent, the ability to 'wipe' his victims and their surroundings of any metaphysical energy. With little physical evidence and no supernatural evidence, Abbey is forced to rely on instinct and luck to solve the case. However both Abbey's luck and instinct seem to have taken a permanent vacation as the victims keep piling up with the killer's escalating blood lust.